Recommendation made for JAHS principal

Jonathan Alder High School (JAHS) may be closer to getting a new principal.
At a board of education meeting Monday night, Jonathan Alder School District Superintendent Gary Chapman announced that JAHS Principal Mike Aurin accepted a new position as principal at Dublin Jerome High School. As of Monday night, Chapman said there were 26 applicants for the position.
A day later, the district announced through a press release that J. Clint Hayes, Jonathan Alder Junior High School Principal of five years, was recommended for the JAHS principal position by Chapman.
Chapman said Aurin’s contract with the district will end July 31. He said Aurin’s departure was announced two weeks ago. Aurin served as principal for four years, replacing Phil Harris, who previously served as principal for about 28 years.
“I think Mr. Aurin has done an outstanding job here for us,” Chapman said. “By his work here, he was very quite attractive to Dublin City Schools as a high school principal.”
An opening for a new high school principal was placed on the Jonathan Alder district website Feb. 28. The deadline for application submissions is March 18. Chapman said the district is conducting the hiring.
District Administrative Assistant Cory Guindon said the superintendent’s recommendation will be presented at the April board of education meeting, where board members will decide whether or not they want Hayes as the principal.
“Internal applicants were looked at first, and (Hayes) did interview,” Guindon said. “That’s when it was evaluated and decided that Mr. Chapman wanted to make that recommendation to the board.”
Guindon said this will mean the board will not conduct future interviews for the high school principal position unless “for some reason the board did not approve of Hayes,” or if he declines the position.
The administrative assistant said this could create an open principal position at JAJHS. She said by announcing the recommendation now, this allows the district to post the job listing before the next board meeting and give candidates advance notice.
If Hayes is rejected or doesn’t take the position, the job listing for the JAHS principal position has a tentative schedule for the rest of the process.
According to the website, the application deadline is March 18. Initial screenings of candidates will take place from March 18 to 22. First round interviews will occur from April 1 to 5, with second round interviews taking place from April 8 to 12. Final interviews will be conducted during the week of April 15.
Along with that announcement came the hiring of Taryn Fuller as Plain City Elementary School (PCES) principal. She is replacing current principal Kelly Hicks.
Chapman said in 2017, Hicks announced she would leave in 2019, which started an informal candidate search. The district then posted its opening for the PCES principal position on Feb. 1.
Chapman said Fuller was hired to become the dean of students for PCES last spring. She was formerly a teacher within the district, and has experience as an assistant elementary principal for Delaware City Schools.
“We knew Taryn very well,” Chapman said. “It’s been a great process to follow because you know Taryn will take over, and she can learn from and receive mentorship from Mrs. Hicks as we transition for her to take over.”
Also at the meeting:
-The superintendent updated council on the district’s latest strategic planning committee meeting held March 6. Chapman said committee members were recommended to attend a Plain City zoning committee meeting on March 20 to talk about potential development near Perry Pike and Lafayette Plain City Road.
-Chapman said a consensus was reached from the committee that he needs to “start talking to our community” and get involved in “community engagement.” He said he wants to use it as a way to solicit feedback from people about potential growth in the village.
“As far as the district is concerned, we have an exciting story to tell,” Chapman said. “We’re not out trying to sell a levy. We’re at a point right now where we just need to say, ‘hey, here’s where we are, here are some of our challenges and here are the good things we are doing.’”
-The board accepted a gift involving a synthetic turf field from the Jonathan Alder Athletic Boosters group.
Rayce Robinson, with the boosters, said the group has hit its goal of raising around $543,646 for a project to install turf at the stadium. He said “we’ve hit our goal.”
He said the group expects to execute construction contracts within the next few weeks, and have around $340,000 cash in hand afterward.
The board then authorized to have the final contract agreement with LeVan’s Excavating Inc. and Astroturf Inc. as the preferred vendors to install the turf. It will be presented at the next board meeting. Chapman said May 20 might be the start date, taking track meets into consideration.
Robinson said he’s interesting in inviting the project’s donors to the next board meeting so board members can personally thank them.
The next board of education meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 8 at Monroe Elementary School.